Fred Olsen jack-up vessel Brave Tern has lifted the final turbine at the 30MW Block Island project in Rhode Island, a long-awaited milestone for America’s first offshore wind farm.
“The Block Island wind farm is now fully constructed,” Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said on Twitter.
Crews will continue to work on the electrical connections inside the five GE Haliade 150 6MW turbines.
Deepwater expects to spend the next few months testing and commissioning the $300m wind farm, located about 3 miles southeast of Block Island.
Two Montco Offshore jack-ups, the Caitlyn and the Paul, have been ferrying towers and blades from the Port of Providence and assisting with installation. The Caitlyn has completed its mission and returned to port.
Meanwhile, lift boat Michael Eymard is installing cable protection on the 20-mile subsea transmission cable linking Block Island to the mainland.
National Grid, which will own the $107m transmission and interconnection system, continues to work on onshore cabling and electrical facilities. Substation testing and commissioning is scheduled to begin after Labor Day.
The utility has agreed to a 20-year power purchase agreement for the output, starting at $0.24/kWh.
Deepwater expects first power to start flowing to the grid in November.
Image: Deepwater
Block Island offshore gold for US
Deepwater completes installation of American milestone wind farm
By EBS